1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a computer-readable recording medium, which are adapted to collect device information from a device connected via a first network and to transmit the device information to a server device connected via a second network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, it is known that a remote monitoring system is used by a maintenance contractor taking charge of maintenance work or a manufacturer of image forming devices, to monitor the image forming devices, such as copiers, printers, or multi-function peripherals, which are installed in offices and so on, through the Internet.
Generally, the remote monitoring system includes a device (device information collecting device) which collects device information from an image forming device installed in the user site, and a server device installed in the maintenance contractor site. The device information is transmitted from the device information collecting device to the server device through the Internet.
Alternatively, there may be another composition of the remote monitoring system in which the image forming device transmits the device information to the server device directly.
The device information may be used for billing purposes or may contain personal information of the user, confidential information of the user, etc., and transmission of the device information requires secure communication between the device information collecting device (or the image forming device) and the server device.
For this reason, in order to prevent an alteration, spoofing, etc. of data on the transmitting path, the mutual authentication and the encryption communication between the client (the device information collecting device or the image forming device) and the server device are performed using a SSL (secure socket layer).
In order to perform the mutual authentication, it is necessary that both the client and the server device have a secret key, respectively. This secret key is the information which must not be revealed by any means, in order to keep the security of the remote monitoring system. Moreover, it is necessary that the introduction of a secret key is permitted only for the client which is accepted by the maintenance contractor.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-320715 discloses a remote monitoring system in which a public key certificate and a secret key which are uniquely discriminable for each of image forming devices are built in each of the image forming devices at the time of factory shipment is used as a client. Namely, the public key certificate and the secret key are built in each of the client devices including the image forming devices and the device information collecting devices. The secret key may be recorded in each client device at the time of factory shipment such that it cannot be physically read out. The uniqueness and the safety of the secret key are secured by doing so.
However, the flexibility of the remote monitor system is inadequate because the public key certificate and the secret key must be built in each of the device information collecting devices at the time of factory shipment. It is desirable to realize the function of the device information collecting device by the software that is installable in a general-purpose computer, such as PC (personal computer).
However, when a package of the software is downloaded via the Internet or a recording medium, such as a CD-ROM and storing the package of the software is distributed, it is necessary to create the package of the software by copying. For this reason, it is difficult to introduce the secret key which is uniquely discriminable for each package into a PC in which the software is installed safely.
Moreover, if the above-described package is distributed through a network, an outsider may easily obtain the above-described package, and a possibility that the outsider has access to the server device illegally by using the above-described software will be increased.